New Law Strips Guns From Psych Patients

Lawmakers on Long Island approved a gun-control measure Tuesday intended to remove handguns from the homes of psychiatric patients deemed a threat by police.

Crafted in response to the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., the measure passed the Suffolk County Legislature in a unanimous vote and without public opposition at the hearing.

Under the law, local police and sheriff’s office will be required to check the county’s pistol-permit registries for the name and address of anyone involuntarily transported to an emergency psychiatric ward.

If a patient or someone who lives at the same address owns a handgun, supervisors in charge of the county’s two handgun registries will receive an email and authorities will investigate whether the gun license should be revoked or suspended.

“We are closing a gap that has the potential to save lives,” said Kara Hahn, the Democratic legislator behind the law.

Last year, local police transported about 3,000 people to an emergency psychiatric ward at Stony Brook University Hospital after deeming them dangerous. An analysis by the police department found that four of those patients had pistol permits, said Capt. Bill Read, head of the department’s pistol licensing bureau.

Two gun owners agreed to give up their permits after police contacted them, and two had their permits previously suspended for other reasons, he said. A fifth emergency psychiatric patient transported by police had an application pending.

The police department began implementing some provisions of the law last month after learning of the proposal. No one transported to a psychiatric ward since then has had a pistol permit, Capt. Read said.

In the past, police officers would sometimes notify the pistol-licensing bureau of a potentially dangerous psychiatric patient, but Capt. Read said there was no automatic system in place like the one outlined in the new law.

A spokesman for the sheriff’s office, which is also tasked with upholding the new law, said the department supports the measure.

There are about 37,000 registered pistol owners in the county, according to the police department and sheriff’s office.